Market News

Domestic tourism had a big boost from April to June as trips made by Canadian residents within the country were up 10.9 per cent on a year-over-year basis, according to the quarterly national travel survey by Statistics Canada.

Canadian residents took 90.6 million trips that included a domestic visit in the second quarter, up from the more than 67.6 million domestic trips they took during the first quarter. For comparison, the year-over-year increase in the first quarter was 2.2 per cent.

Among the domestic visits for the second quarter, 58.6 million were same-day, up 12.4 per cent, while 32.0 million were overnight, up 8.4 per cent.

As a result, tourism spending also increased, as Canadian residents spent $20.3 billion domestically from April to June, up 13.5 per cent year over year. From January to March, Canadian residents spent $13.8 billion on domestic travel.

Overall during the second quarter, Canadian residents took 99.3 million trips within Canada and abroad — an 8.5 per cent jump from the same quarter in 2024.

Included in that number are the 8.9 million trips Canadians made outside of the country, which was down 12.1 per cent from 2024, mainly due to a decline in outbound visits to the United States.

Statistics Canada said Canadians took 5.6 million trips to the U.S. in the second quarter, down 21.6 per cent year over year. Spending during those visits totalled $4.8 billion, a decline of 14.9 per cent from 2024.

Canadian residents spent an average of $125 per same-day visit to the U.S. in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, the total number of trips by non-residents to Canada, including visitors from the U.S. and overseas countries, was eight million from April to June, a 3.1 per cent year-over-year decrease.

Americans took 6.1 million trips to Canada in the second quarter, down 5.6 per cent on a year-over-year basis, while visitors from overseas accounted for 1.9 million trips, a 5.8 per cent increase.